Plaid Lampshades And A Thrifted Santa

Hi, Friends,

How was your Thanksgiving? I hope it was lovely.

We had a nice quiet day with two of our children. 

I've been working on some Christmas projects. I usually start decorating before Christmas. I think it harkens to my days as a teacher because I wanted to get it all done during Thanksgiving break. 

When I waited until the day after Thanksgiving, I was exhausted by the time the break was over. We'd head into to December festivities and then I'd fight exhaustion all month long. So, as soon as Halloween is over, I begin a some projects. 

This summer I found this wonderful Santa at my second favorite thrift store. He was only $25.00. 

He's about 2.5 feet tall. 

He needed a refresh and some lights. 

I rewrapped his presents with better plaid and stuffed his bag with some updated greens and a cute gingerbread man. 

I decorated the dining room in traditional plaid with Old World ornaments on the tree. 

I didn't use these last year because of the new kitty. 

She's pretty chill so they get to be out again. 

I thought lampshades to match this scheme would be fun for the chandelier. 

I found a set of them in a dusty antique shop in East Texas.

This is pretty easy to do and they look so pretty with the light coming through. 

Except for the tree, I got this all styled, took some photos and then packed it up for when the kids came over. 

I'll have fun putting it all back out. 

I spent two days looking for a little mouse ornament. 

I finally spied his foot poking out behind a little bowl of apples on my spice cabinet.

That wasn't frustrating at all. Ha! 

 

I've accidentally thrown away Christmas decor in wrapping paper. 

My son sent him to me so I would have been sad to have lost him. 

The kitchen is going to have a few darling mice peeping about this year. 

I also lost a brass reindeer. I used him in the table setting below in 2020. 

Christmas was depressing that year.

 I packed it all away before Christmas day so there is not telling what I did with it. 

I have the other brass deer. I have the angel and all the other elements on the table. I've searched through all my decor and purged in the process. I finally broke down and bought a new set off of eBay. If it turns up. I'll take to East Texas to join the other one. 

I have a new plan for my Christmas decor that I'll share with you soon. 

That is all for now. 

Have fun decorating for the season ahead. 

Blessings, 

Katie 

New Bathroom Storage In East Texas

Hi, Friends, 

How are you? I hope you are well. 

We removed a set of shelves from my bathroom out in East Texas. There are two working bathrooms in the house. They are both kind of small. Bill took one and I took the other. Frankly, I think I have the better deal. 

The shelves were put in by the air gun king. There were nail holes everywhere and they were never primed and painted. A curtain out of Navy blue sheeting fabric hid the contents. A curtain across from the toilet? Umm. No! Gross. It was immediately removed. Bill began removing the built ins the second day of our staying there. I didn't even get a picture. 

This is in the potty closet.

I wanted something different there instead of just standard cabinetry so I hit up one of the antique malls in town. 

I wasn't sure what I wanted but I found a china cabinet. I'd walked by it once and didn't see it. Something told me to take one more trip around the mall just to see if I missed anything. That is when I spied it in the back corner of the mall. The size was perfect and it was only $50.00. 

One of the glass shelves was gone but that was not a problem. 

The foil wallpaper on the back and on the bottom would have to go. 

It was not easily removed from the bottom. I finally used CitriStrip.

Rather than fight with the wallpaper on the back of the piece in order to get it off. We cut a new back out of some thin plywood that we had from another project. 

 My "go to" paint treatment is usually white but green is our accent color in the new house. 

I found some green chalk paint at Tuesday Morning.  The under color is olive. The top coat is more of a moss green called Lichen by Ceramcoat. I love this color. 

Petroleum jelly is usually what I use to distress my pieces but for the life of me, I can't remember if I used wax this time. It doesn't matter. There are quite a few distressing techniques out on the internet. 

Either way some of the olive color shows through. I painted the bottom and sides white. 

The back was stained with a light colored Minwax stain. I wanted it to look as if it had no finish. I tried two different kinds and they ended up looking identical. Here is a good tip regarding stain. Try out sample sections on a scrap piece of your wood and choose which look you like the best. 

Stain looks different on each type of wood. 

We carefully loaded her up for the trip out to East Texas. 

She arrived in tact. 

I was fearful that those doors might break. Glass had already been replaced in a couple of sections before it came into my possession. Some of the curvy sections of glass would have been a pain to put in. 

Instead of a second glass shelf, Bill made a shelf out of the material he used for the back. He glued two of the thin pieces together for more support. It was stained with a light stain to match the back. 

Painting the window detail was a pain. There was a lot of scraping of the glass. 

This only had a key hole but no pull. My pull stash yielded a darling vintage glass knob. 

Since this is a potty closet and there is very little room, it's hard to photograph the whole thing but the legs are darling all painted up. 

They remind me of something in the animated version of Beauty and the Beast which is my favorite Disney movie. 

We store a few towels, extra toilet paper, white Dove soaps and that's about it. 

Some hotelware pitchers adorn the top shelf because I have a pitcher problem and they need to go somewhere. 

A painting on wood from one of my mother's best friends hangs above. 

I'll be back to show you more of the rest of my bathroom. You may never see Bill's bathroom. Haha. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Have a blessed day. 
Katie 

Thrifted Table

I found this table at the thrift store.

It was about $40.00. It had a Texas farmhouse vibe that I liked. I saw it and didn't get it. I went back a week later and was shocked it was still there.

It was a little wobbly but I tightened it up with a few screws. 

It had two finishes.

 The top and shelf are lighter. I have tried to figure that out. Did someone paint it and then strip it at one time?

The top did look like it had been sanded but it wasn't in good condition. You can see the rings and water spots in the picture below.

I have just recently started painting furniture. My reluctance stems from watching my parents refinish many furniture pieces and listening to my dad say that nobody should have paint furniture. 
 I think that it is okay to paint some furniture. I will paint that which is not really old or valuable.

This one can use a coat of paint.
I decided to keep the two tones effect and I painted the top and shelf with white primer.
I hated it.
Of course I forgot to take a picture of it.
The contrast was too sharp.
So I took the sander to it to get a pickled look.

I could wax it I guess, but the finish seems just fine to me.

 I love how the white got in the cracks. 
This was so easy. I sprayed a little polyurethane on top.

It looks like it has been this way for a long time.

How cute are these spindly legs? 

It blends better with the new mantel.
I love it.
It fits perfectly with my recent lighter aesthetic.

Katie
Linking with,
Debbie Doos